


Godfathers, sort of

by Bluethenstaub



Category: Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Character Study, Crowley is Nanny Ashtoreth, Gen, Historic, Kid Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 21:36:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16982244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluethenstaub/pseuds/Bluethenstaub
Summary: Crowley had never been one to like children. They were loud, they were unpredictable, their moods and wishes changed every minute.And yet, children had always loved him.Him! The Snake of Eden! A demon!





	Godfathers, sort of

**Author's Note:**

> _"Godfathers. Well, I'll be damned."_  
>  "It's not too bad," said Crowley, "when you get used to it."  
>   
> This made me think. Why does Crowley know what it's like to be a godfather? And I wanted to write a fic with Crowley taking care of children...

Crowley, no, Nanny Ashtoreth as he was called these days, watched Warlock Dowling in his sleep and readjusted his blanket. He was a cute one, even he was the Antichrist. His mouth stood slightly open and he was going to drool on his teddy bear really soon.

Children.

Crowley had never been one to like children. They were loud, they were unpredictable, their moods and wishes changed every minute.

And yet, children had always loved him.

Him! The Snake of Eden! A demon!

They loved him!

Warlock wasn’t the only child Crowley had taken care of in the years he had spent on this blessed planet.

 

The first time he had seen a human child, had been not too long after he had crawled onto Earth. It had been the woman’s first child. He was still living as a snake, slithering around, watching. But one hot afternoon, when the man was hunting, and the woman was taking a nap, Crowley got closer. But the child started to cry as it was seeing the snake. Crowley certainly didn’t want to wake the woman, so he changed his form for the first time, turning into a human, closely resembling the woman.

“Hush, little one,” he whispered and took the child into his arms like he had seen the woman doing it many times before. “It’s alright, I’m not a snake anymore. It’s alright.”

It was alright for the child, but the woman’s instincts had reacted to its cries.

She gasped loudly as she saw Crowley, kneeling next to the child’s crib, cradling the child in his arms. As she saw a person looking almost like herself, holding her child in their arms.

Caught in the act, Crowley turned his head towards the woman, staring at her.

“Oh,” the woman said and relaxed. “It’s you. The snake.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s your eyes. They’re still the same as they were in the garden.”

“They are?” Crowley didn’t know. He hadn’t seen himself, yet. He hadn’t been able to realize that these eyes would always stay the same, regardless of the form he took. Snake, woman, man, animal, he always wore the eyes of the snake.

The woman shifted closer. “He’s beautiful, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know. He looks a bit like a potato.”

She laughed. “That’s because he’s still a baby. He will grow up and turn into a beautiful man.”

“He has your eyes,” Crowley noticed. “Not only in colour, but there’s the same spark. You both search for knowledge.” These are eyes that disobeyed Him, Crowley would later think after the child had become a man, and after he had done things no one did before him. Just like his mother.

“He does,” she agreed. “His name is Cain.”

“Cain.” Crowley tasted the name on his tongue. “It’s a nice name. It suits him.”

Her smile widened. Even after everything that had happened, she still felt sympathy for him.

“Eve.”

“Yes, Crawly?”

“That’s not my name anymore,” he said.

“What is your name then?”

He hesitated. “I don’t know. I didn’t decide, yet.”

“You’re going to find your name, I’m sure.”

“Probably. I’m going to be around for a long time. Everything needs a name. This is what He has declared.” Carefully, Crowley gave the child, no, Cain, back to his mother. “I’m leaving. I’ll stick around. Don’t kill any snakes, it could be me.”

“I know you won’t do him any harm. Maybe you could come around from time to time. Watch him? Teach him?” There was hope in her voice. It hurt Crowley to destroy it.

“It’s better if I don’t. I can’t be what you want me to be for him.” A godfather. The word had, of course, not been invented yet. It was only many, many years later when Crowley realized what Eve had wanted him to be.

 

Cain was only the first of many children.

Of his godchildren, yes, but that’s not what is meant here right now. Crowley did have quite a handful of godchildren, though. People tended to like him. People started to trust him. People trusted him with their most precious, with their children, even Crowley always advised them not to.

No, Cain was also the first of the children in general. Many children were around in the old days. They were not more than today, but in the old days the children were outside and didn’t have to spend half of their days sitting still in school.

If you wanted to tempt a human, it was likely that they had a child. If there was one child, there were other children around. They came in hordes.

Not every encounter was as peaceful as the one with Eve and Cain. Most children feared his eyes. It had gotten better since he had gotten his sunglasses, but they were still wary of him. No one trusted a stranger in sunglasses.

And yet, there had always been families whose children naturally trusted Crowley. He didn’t know why he didn’t even like them. They were annoying.

Children weren’t his scene.

And yet…

And yet, he was good at raising him. He knew stories for children, he knew songs for them.

When he taught them something, he saw the same sparks as he had seen in Eve’s eyes when he told her about the tree. They wanted knowledge.

Crowley could give them knowledge.

This was his scene.

 

Warlock sighed in his sleep and hugged his teddy bear closer.

Crowley smiled again and left the room.

“Sweet dreams, little Prince of Darkness,” he whispered fondly and closed the door behind him. ‘Brother Francis’ was waiting for him with wine. And Crowley really had to get out of his stockings for today.


End file.
